opinion This week, the Senate is likely to take up a defense reauthorization bill that contains several objectionable proposals that would restrict any president’s power to handle terrorism cases. None is more obnoxious than a requirement that terrorism suspects who are not U.S. nationals be held in military...
Brainerd, 56401

Brainerd MN 506 James St. / PO Box 974 56401

2011-11-02 18:48:42

This week, the Senate is likely to take up a defense reauthorization bill that contains several objectionable proposals that would restrict any president’s power to handle terrorism cases. None is more obnoxious than a requirement that terrorism suspects who are not U.S. nationals be held in military custody.

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Lawmakers should focus first on this proposal and discard it promptly. Military detention should be an option available to the president, but requiring it in all cases prevents him from taking full advantage of some of the country’s most powerful counterterrorism tools. Law enforcement officials and national security specialists, for example, could be forced to hand over a suspect even if they were making headway in gathering intelligence. This could also thwart the FBI’s ability to surveil a suspected terror ring and gather information for fear that identifying suspects could force it to prematurely capture and hand over these individuals to the military.

Another counterproductive proposal would prohibit the executive branch from using Defense Department funds to construct a U.S. facility or adapt an existing one to hold detainees now at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This provision is little more than fear-mongering and ignores the country’s long track record of imprisoning convicted terrorists, including ”shoe bomber” Richard Reid, without incident. Lawmakers should also eliminate onerous restrictions on the president’s ability to transfer detainees to their home or third countries.

The bill is on better footing in requiring periodic review to determine whether a detainee should continue to be held because he presents an ongoing threat. But rather than let the defense secretary set up the scheme, the Senate should adopt President Obama’s approach, unveiled this year, which would create a multiagency panel to conduct such reviews.